The Rokudaime Hokage
by NekoVampireNinja
Summary: The bright clear ball of light that shone for others' enjoyment, the tireless bundle that was so bright. Selfish me. I stole the Sun. With my words I turned him black, until the brilliant, radiant sun shone no more. ONESHOT FICS. Naru, Gaa & Saku ones up.
1. The Rokudaime , A naruto oneshot

**The Rokudaime Hokage.**

Sasuke stared at the inanimate object. He wanted it to crumble under his gaze, to burn, to shatter, to disappear. But funnily enough, it just stayed…

Inanimate.

No matter which way you look at it, he decided, it wasn't going to leave.

And that was the part that he loathed.

He _couldn't _change the fact it was there, mocking him. Taunting him. Reminding him. When he had heard, he had dropped everything to return. He'd abandoned his Sound team for this. He'd abandoned his goal.

_He let Itachi walk free…_

And all for the sake of this lifeless object.

He'd heard the news straight from the pink haired whiner. She'd come to seek him out…

"_What do you want, Sakura?" he hissed. He was so close to locating Itachi._

"_Sa-sasuke-kun. I- we need you… to come back."_

"_I've told you, I have my Clan to avenge. I will not –"_

"_It's… it- you… you have to come back… Its…"_

So he came back. She said those two words, and that changed everything.

How though? How could it have happened? It wasn't supposed to. He promised. He went back on his nindo. He swore… he promised… to the village…

To Sakura…

To Gaara…

To Tsunade…

To _me…_

But he lied. He went back on his nindo. He went _back _on it. His lie came in the form of a B-turned-S-class mission. He changed. He changed…

Us.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Sakura never really noticed him, until he was gone. She never knew that she had come to miss the unmissable child.

………………………………………………………………………………

Hinata was never the same. If she was quiet before, she never spoke a word now. Last week she passed her Jounin exams. Aged fourteen. The same year Neji passed. She obliterated her opponent, putting all her emotion into every strike.

Just like _he _taught her. She fought for him.

……………………………………………………………………………………….

Sasuke heard that, a month after, the Hokage had to run around arranging a council with the new Kazekage. A year after achieving his goal, Gaara simply refused to be Kazekage any longer.

If _he _didn't get to, he had reasoned, why should he?

It had not been his dream first.

Kakashi was never late from that day on. If only he had gotten there on time… all this would have never happened.

Jiriya never gave the Toad summoning scroll to anyone again. He never offered the opportunity. He never found anyone as worthy. With his death, the scroll was locked in the Hokage Tower archives.

And lost.

……………………………………………………………………………………..

Years later, Tsunade slung the necklace over her neck one last time.

As the necklace finally took her as its' own.

It was time to elect the sixth Konoha Hokage. It was _his_ dream to become so. It was _his _goal.

The man turned the offer down.

"_You… don't want to be the Hokage. Its' been your dream…?"_

"_I can't accept the Rokudaime position. It is not mine to take."_

"_But-"_

"_No buts. Announce to Konoha that they have their new Shichidaime."_

"… _hai, Konohomaru-sama."_

The position was left for him to take. After all his years of fighting, and it was just sitting there, _for _him. Ready to be accepted.

But_ he_ wasn't there to claim it.

They elected the Shichidaime Hokage that day.

Konoha never officially had a Rokudaime Hokage.

They couldn't. Because someone had already claimed that position.

_And he wasn't there._

……………………………………………………………………………………**.**

It had changed everything. It had changed everyone. Nobody even knew what they had till it was gone.

So…

He just stared at it.

That inanimate object.

That gravestone.

_Uzumaki Naruto…_

**Yea. Just a thought. If I was being to vague, Naruto's dead, and Tsunade killed herself somewhere along the way, about five or so years after Naruto's death. Just to give Konahomaru some time to grow up. He was what, like, ten? Konahomaru is obviously Hokage. Poor Gaara, I didn't want to make him quit, but I thought it added a poignant touch to it; not being able to accept it because it wasn't **_**his**_** dream.**

**NekoVampireNinja**

**PS. Formerly AlinaAnila.**

**PSS. I MAY MAKE THIS A ONESHOT COLLECTION FIC. SO IF YOU LIKE IT, ADD IT TO STORY ALERTS!**


	2. Fear of Dying , A Gaara oneshot

**PLEASE NOTE! THIS IS A SERIES OF ONESHOTS AND HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE LAST CHAPTER!!**

**Fear**

When I was just a little kid, maybe as young as three, I heard Kankuro sneaking into fathers' room.

"Otousan… I'm afraid of dying!" He blubbered. Another bad dream

"Go back to your room, Kankuro. A ninja should welcome death!" He berated. The Kazekage never was sympathetic towards children.

But from that day on, he made me think. Not once in my life had I been harmed, or injured. Even as a baby, when I was learning to walk, I had fallen down a flight of stairs. Not so much as a scratch. It was the sand, I decided. The closest thing I've ever had to care about me, besides Yashamaru.

But I wasn't the least bit afraid of falling down those stairs. Because even as a baby, I knew I couldn't be hurt; I wasn't afraid of dying.

Was I broken? Or wrong? Big, strong Ninja are afraid of dying. Even the Kazekage was afraid of dying. Why wasn't I?

It took me my whole life until this point to understand why:

I understood as I mercilessly crushed a human without even paying half attention.

I understood as I proclaimed my hatred against the world.

I understood as I watched the normal children play happily.

I understood as I saw my own relatives of flesh and blood cringing in my wake, even on a good day.

I understood as I killed my thousandth human.

I understood as I listened to the whispers behind my back.

I understood as I killed the latest assassin sent after me.

I understood as I clutched my head in the closest I have ever come to physical pain, willing the beast to shut up.

I understood as I sat upon a Suna rooftop, every night, awake whilst the normal people slept.

It was because I _was _death. I am a child who should not have been born into this world, but now that I have been, I exist only to take those unworthy out of it. I think of myself dying with every person whose blood soils my sand. I pretend that is me, no longer useful and crushed into oblivion.

Because even as I proclaim my violent statements of having a purpose in life to kill, I know – but refuse to admit – that my worth on this planet was lost the moment the Kazekage deemed me a failed experiment. I have tried, many times, to end my life. But neither blade nor poison nor rope nor height can have any affect on me. The only consolation I have is my imagination; pretending with every human that I kill, that I am escaping this worthless life with them.

Temari was deemed a failure the moment of her birth. Because she was a girl. The oldest, the inheritor, should not be a girl.

Kankuro was deemed a failure when he failed to lose his baby fat, and became a 'worthless' puppeteer as apposed to a proper fighting ninja.

I was deemed a failure the moment I was deemed too good to succeed. I was uncontrollable. When I was born, my powers had no direction, free to kill as they pleased. The Kazekage was pleased. That was what he had been aiming for; a ruthless killing machine. But as I grew, I learned that I should not kill, and I did try. But the sand was too strong. So strong, in fact, that it has protected me from harm to this very moment. The Kazekage deemed me a failure the moment he sent the first assassin after me, simply because I was uncontrollable.

This is the reason I am not afraid of dying.

Because, after all the failed assassination, suicide attempts, the fearful gazes, rejection and hate,

I am dead.

**0.0 This kinda turned into a story of my collections of oneshots. So here it is. A story that has nothing to do with the last, a random thing i dreamed up**

**oooOOH!! Heres an idea! How about, while you're reviewing, you give me ideas on which to write on! Just give me a character or two and a plot direction, and i'll make it into whatever genre i'm in the mood for. Saves you guys always having to read angst. And it gives me direction. IF I GET ENOUGH RECCOMENDATIONS, I MAY TURN ONE OF THESE ONESHOTS INTO A FULL BLOWN FIC!**


	3. I Stole The Sun, A Sakura oneshot

**I stole the Sun – A Sakura Fic**

**My New Years Present to my readers. Sorry about the lack of stories.**

My name is Sakura Haruno

Looking back on my sixteen years of life, I was quite a selfish child. The only child in my middle class family, I was – I suppose – essentially, spoiled. I got whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted.

Except Sasuke.

Since I laid eyes upon him at six years of age, he became the focus of my attention, with his gorgeous black hair and dark, mysterious eyes.

But he never wanted me. Or any other of the girls that fawned over him in his little obsessed clique.

In fact, the one person who ever wanted me was Naruto. That blonde, loud, obnoxious dumbass. He offered to take me to that Ramen bar almost every day.

Once again, in hindsight, I turned Naruto down every time without even considering him at all. Because I thought that Sasuke was better…

FLASHBACK

"Ugh." Sakura grimaced, flipping her pink hair behind her back. "Here comes Naruto again."

The garishly dressed boy bounced along happily towards Sakura, standing beside Sasuke who was trying to hint his apathy towards the girl.

"Hi Sakura!" Grinned Naruto, waving brightly as he reached the. "Sasuke-teme." He nodded curtly. "I was thinking, Sakura, do you want to-"

"No, Naruto, I don't want to go to Ichiraku with you. Can't you see that I'm telling Sasuke-kun about how I kicked Ino-pig's butt yesterday?"

"Oh." Naruto drooped. "Well, you haven't told me about it! Can I-"

"No! Go away." She yelled.

Naruto pouted, then turned to glare at Sasuke. "You're not so special, Teme. Sakura will get over you once she realizes you're the jerk that you are!" He declared.

"Shut up, Baka!" Screeched Sakura, clenching her fist at him. "Don't insult Sasuke-kun!" She said, as the said boy huffed and rolled his eyes.

Naruto pouted once more and stalked off, grumbling down the street.

"Now, where was I? Oh yea…"

Sasuke groaned internally.

LINE! LINE! LINE! LINE! LINE!

_Flash forward-er but not so far forward to the present._

"Hello Team!" Said the falsely chipper Jounin. "Sorry I'm late, I lost the keys to my garden shed down the drain that lead into the Konoha River and I had to search the whole-"

"YOU LIAR!" Bellowed/screeched Naruto and Sakura.

"Hehe…" Sweat dropped the prematurely grey Ninja. "Aaaanyway, today I have an extremely important mission for you today." He said, becoming serious.

All three Genins eyes widened, and Sasuke's head perked up.

"I'm sending the three of you into the forest… to train!" He eye smiled and anime lines flew around his head

"..." Exasperated spirals fizzled above their heads.

"Training!" Huffed Sakura. "But Sensei, we've been Genin for over a year now! Come the next Chuunin exams, we'll all be rank higher! Except Naruto." She added

"Aww… Sakura-chaaan!" He whined.

"Chuunin's don't need to do this lame training." Stated Sakura huffily.

"On the contrary, Sakura." Corrected Kakashi, and he became truly serious. "A chuunin is responsible for the training of the younger Ninja, and entrusted with vital courier missions. A chuunin needs all the training they can get."

"!" Sakura looked surprised. "Oh."

"Now, I want Naruto and Sasuke to pair up, and Sakura, you're with me."

"Why can't I be with Sasuke?" Huffed Sakura, shooting the boy an adoring glance.

"Because, Sakura, your chakra is not on par with Sasuke or Naruto, and you have a different affinity for the use of the chakra. You would be better off with me, who can use genjuutsu – a specialty of yours – than with Naruto or Sasuke, who are both physical fighting types. Your chakra levels are not as high as Sasuke's, either."

"So Sasuke's the most powerful out of us?" Asked Sakura, fluttering her eyes.

"Not necessarily." Eye smiled Kakashi. "Chakra levels do not indicate how powerful a person is. In any case, Naruto has higher chakra levels than Sasuke."

"Oh." Said Sakura, surprised, glancing at the puffed up and grinning Naruto. "Well I guess you're right, Sensei. Chakra levels really don't indicate how strong you are."

Naruto's grin faded and his ears drooped.

"Off you go, you two. Go do what you two do best. Sakura, I'd like to show you a different version of tree climbing…"

"Whatever." Said Sasuke, walking nonchalant over to stand in front of Naruto."

"Come on Sasuke, I'll fight you!" He declared, taking a fighting stance.

"And you'll lose." Smirked Sasuke.

"Bring it on!" Growled Naruto, jumping forward to attack.

"Oh!" Gasped Sakura, turning away from Kakashi who was showing her a trapping genjuutsu. He, too, turned to look at the cloud left by a large explosive collision between his to male students.

Sasuke pulled himself off the ground on the far side of the pitch, gripping his stomach and grimacing. He coughed and spat a wad of blood.

"Sasuke!" Gasped Sakura, hands covering her mouth in shock.

As the dust settled, the orange form of Naruto became clearer, standing and seeming perfectly unharmed.

"Is that all you've got!" He called, smirking at Sasuke, taking a fighting stance.

"You wish." Glared the other boy.

"Naruto! Can't you see that Sasuke-kun is hurt!" Sakura shrieked.

"Yea! Because he's too slow!" Naruto grinned.

"Naruto!" Roared Sakura, bashing him hard over the head.

"Uhh! Sakuraaaa. What was that for?" He moaned, clutching his head.

"That's for hurting my Sasuke-kun!" She shrieked.

"Oh, come on! I know he's a wuss but he doesn't need coddling!" Naruto argued, still rubbing his sore head.

"Take that back Naruto! He isn't a wuss! Don't call him names!" Sakura shrieked, in full anime-anger mode now.

"Sheesh, Sakura, it's just a name, I get called names all the time." Naruto backed away, grimacing

"Don't you EVER insult my Sasuke, do you hear me!"

"But he calls _me _names all the time, and nobody tells him off!" Naruto argued, folding his arms.

"That's because you are a dobe and a baka!"

"Hey no I'm not!" He argued.

"Jeez naruto, you just don't get it!" Sakura screeched.

"Yea! I don't get it! What am I supposed to get!?"

"You're supposed to 'get' that you're a dobe and a baka and you'll NEVER match up to Sasuke-kun, you stupid little demon!" She hollered as loud as she could.

The birds fell silent and the only sound that could be heard after that outburst was the rustling of leaves.

"What did you call me?" Asked Naruto.

"I… I called you a Demon!" Confirmed Sakura. She had overheard Naruto being called that by two ninja a few days ago, and she thought that was a suitable word enough for how he acted.

"Hehe, okay team, I think it's break time now." Sweatdropped Kakashi as he eyesmiled, holding his palms up defensively.

"Hmph." Huffed Sakura as she stalked back over to Sasuke, leaving Naruto to head off to Ichiraku alone.

LINE LINE LINE LINE LINE!

Naruto sat in a secluded part of the woods, out behind his apartment complex. He usually came here to train, but right now all he was doing was sitting staring at the flowing river, not even seeing It's happy dancing hypnotic swirls.

Did Sakura really know the full implication behind that word? Even if she didn't Naruto felt hollow. He had taken both his and Sakura's insults, even Kakashi-sensei's teasing. But Naruto nursed a certain sore spot for that word. He didn't really care that Sakura told him he wasn't as good as Sasuke, because he had long since stopped listening to the expectations and opinions of others in those departments. He would prove them wrong anyway.

But he always thought that Sakura – like the flower that she was named for – would bloom into a beautiful person, both physically and spiritually, and would open her eyes to the real world and the real status of the people around her.

Naruto had met Sakura before she had ever been introduced to Sasuke. She had been the sweetest thing. Naruto, left alone on the first day of Ninja school, an orphan with no young neighbours, had no one in the entire academy that he knew. Sakura smiled and offered her hand to him, showing him around – she'd been there before for orientation with her parents – and shared a pack of crayons with him in class. She smiled and giggled at everything and everyone.

Then she had met Sasuke, and her rivalry with not only her best friend Ino but also most the other girls in the class had begun. She had turned bitter, competitive and had become fixated and obsessed with Sasuke.

But it was her birthday. And despite that Naruto knew that she had changed, he still remembered who she had been. He bought her a present with money he had scraped together. It was a simple glass bell that made a gorgeous tinkling sound when rung.

Naruto remembered being over the moon about his purchase, and on Sakura's birthday he tucked the carefully wrapped present safe into his pocket.

"Hi, Sakura!" Grinned Naruto.

"Oh, hi Naruto." Said Sakura, hardly glancing at him. She and a bunch of the other sasuke fans were standing around waiting for him to arrive.

"I just wanted to say Happ-"

"Not now Naruto." She interrupted. "Sasuke will be here soon, and I want him to wish me happy birthday. I don't want you to discourage him of talking to me."

"Well, okay, but I-"

"There he is!" Squealed an imfatuated girl at the gront.

"… I just wanted to wish you a Happy Birth-"

"Move, Naruto!" Sakura shoved him out of the way, fighting her way to the front of the pack of girls.

Naruto sat on the ground, watching Sakura disappear. He reached into his pocket and pulled from it Sakura's present.

He shook it. It didn't chime. All that came from it now was a grating sound. He unwrapped it to find the bell smashed into a hundred fragments.

That was the first day Naruto skipped academy classes.

LINE LINE LINE LINE

But Naruto never gave up on Sakura. Even years of rejection later, Naruto was still waiting for her to become that girl he had first met.

But now he was done waiting.

Naruto felt a tear slide down his cheek. Sakura had been his only real hope. No other child had ever been so nice to him.

A slight gasp.

"Oh, what are you doing here?" Smiled Naruto up at the person who had materialized across the river. He lowered his head discreetly to hide the tear.

The figure remained silent. "Are you crying?" she whispered, horrified.

"Wha-? Nooo…" Naruto waived his arm dismissively. "I've just finished training and I'm resting, is all."

The figure began to walk towards him, leaving the basket of wild strawberries that had been dropped to the floor. She used chakra to cross the river towards him.

Naruto left his head hanging to the ground at her approach, not even raising it when the figure squatted in front of him.

"Naruto…" sighed the figure forlornly.

LINE LINE LINE LINE.

"YOU'RE LATE!"

"Sorry I'm late, you three… I mean two…?"

Kakashi opened his eye to find that he was staring at a team lacking in numbers.

"Naruto slept in, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura huffed. "He's so lazy."

"Slept in?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"Well, yea, where else would he be? What are we going to do today, anyway sensei?"

"Hmmm… well, I was going to put you guys through another relaxing day of training, but since there's only two of you, I guess that's pointless."

"I could just fight against Sasuke Kun." Suggested Sakura.

"Hmm… no, I don't think so. Instead, team, I think I'll give you a newly designated A-rank mission."

"A-rank?" Sasuke's head piqued in intrest.

"Yep. Mission details; Find Naruto Uzumaki!" Kakashi announced brightly.

"Ugh, Sensei!" Growled Sakura. "Don't joke!"

"Oh, I'm not joking, Sakura. Even Anbu have trouble finding Naruto when he doesn't want to be found." Kakashi eye smiled

"Wearing that stupid colour? Yea right!"

"Well, If you think its so easy, let's go." Kakashi gestured.

LINE LINE LINE LINE

As Kakashi had predicted, Naruto wasn't at the Ramen bar, the Hokage tower, the training ground or wandering the streets. He WAS hard to find.

"We should be at Naruto's house soon." Commented Kakashi, pointing further ahead. They had slowly scoured the way through the city, ending up on the other side of the city at Naruto's apartment.

"It's up there." Kakashi points to the third house of a fairly run down apartment building.

"Geez, what do Naruto's parents do? Local checkout workers." Sakura laughed.

Kakashi stopped walking, turning to her half glaring in disbelief. "Naruto's parents are dead, Sakura."

Sakura's mouth flopped open in shock. She'd known Naruto for over six years, and she had never known! Come to think of it, she never really considered the lack of his parents. He always walked home from school alone, and never turned up to parent-teacher nights.

"I knew." Sasuke said, looking at Sakura curiously. "He told me, just after my parents were killed."

Kakashi pushed open the door of the third apartment that they had now reached.

The door swung forward obediently.

Inside they found a neat but bare kitchen/living room/dining room. A small table and two chairs in the middle of the kitchen, and a rough cheap looking lounge and coffee table in the adjoining room.

"He isn't here." Said Kakashi quietly. If there had been any worried thoughts in the Copy-Nin's head before, it was clear that there was now.

LINE LINE LINE LINE

Kakashi sighed, staring at the sky. He and his member lacking team had finished scouring the village again for the garish blonde wandering. Sakura maintained that he was probably wandering around in his own little world with no idea about the time.

"Can't we go now, Sensei? Sasuke Kun and I are hungry." Sakura whined.

"No, Sakura. We need to find Naruto." Snapped Kakashi harshly, causing her to flinch back and pout.

"He's here, Sensei." Sasuke pointed through the crowd to two figures walking toward them. One was Naruto and the other one, in front of him, was-

SLAP!

Sakura shrieked and fell back, clapping a hand to her stinging cheek.

"Hinata! What was that for!"

The petite girl was glaring down at Sakura, her Byakugan active, giving Sakura a menacing look of the deepest loathing.

"Hinata?" Gasped Sasuke, shocked. His eyes travelled to Naruto, and found the boy staring down at Sakura, expressionless.

"Hinata…" Kakashi approached the two girls.

"See what you did?!" Shrieked the normally quiet at Sakura. "See what she did!?" She shrieked again, this time at Kakashi.

She turned to Naruto and dragged him in front of her.

He looked slightly bemused, wringing his hands, his head – normally head high in an emotion bordering on arrogance – now hung lower, even his spiky hair drooped mousily.

"You stupid selfish cow!" Shrieked the blue haired girl again. "All he ever wanted was for you to pay attention to him! All you cared about was that stupid emo boy who will treat you like crap!" (Thanks MasacoX and Vegeta.)

"Wh-What do you mean. Why did you hit me!" Sakura started getting over the shock and was becoming angry.

"Haven't you ever bothered to pay attention to him? Ever? All he does is think of nice things to do with you and treats you with reverence, and you return that compassion with violence, rudeness and nonchalance! Now you've called him a _demon,_ Sakura, and while I could stand there and watch you knock him back without interfering, knowing that his optimism would protect him, using THAT word has ripped him apart! Coming from you, Sakura, it hurts him a thousand times worse than if anyone else had." Hinata drew an angry breath. "I can watch you knock him back and follow THAT boy, but the ONE thing I CAN NOT absolve is you making him CRY!" She bellowed.

There was pin-drop silence around them. Many villagers had stopped to watch, and even Kakashi seemed entrapped by the near tangible silence.

After calming down, Hinata asked "Do you have anything to say to her, Naruto?"

Naruto was jerked slightly, surprised at being addressed. He looked backwards and forwards between the girl standing beside him and the girl on the floor.

"Um… no?" He just shrugged, expressionless.

Sakura stared up at him, still lying on the floor. _Naruto…_

What she saw in his eyes hit her harder than Hinata's hand. His usually bright and happy eyes were void of feeling, seeing, bottomless pools of hollowness. Sakura shivered. It was like staring into the eyes of a corpse.

LINE LINE LINE LINE

Naruto continued with team 7, like before. But he never returned to the happy, overzealous personality that he had before. Even on his happiest day, he only managed a quiet laugh.

The people around him saw a side of Naruto they never knew existed. His intelligence, analytical cunning, his REAL emotions.

No one liked it.

Sasuke accepted Naruto's sparring requests, even initiating them himself from time to time. Sasuke often fell up short, though. Naruto also trusted Sasuke with the secret that he was the container of the 9 tailed Fox, something that I was never trusted with, but found out about anyway, like a spy. When time came for Sasuke to be called to Orochimaru, it was Naruto, not I, who was there to stop him. He convinced him not to leave. Even when Naruto beat Sasuke in every spar, Naruto still managed to convince him that it wasn't weakness that caused him defeat. Sasuke was really introduced to the logical side of Naruto that day. He argued against Sasuke's goal to kill Itachi. "There are many ninja in the village that specialize in all types of skills. Not only is there a larger amount of them, but they are a thousand times more reliable than Orochimaru. I've told Gaara, I've told Inari, and now I'll tell you: You claim I'm more powerful than you, have more strength. Well, the only reason I have that is because I am fuelled by my friendships, my will to keep them alive or to keep alive for them. Leaving isn't the answer, Sasuke. We can learn together. Besides, if you want to take on Itachi, he's after me, remember. So just stick with me, Sasuke, and he'll come to us." Sasuke was shocked into staying. It didn't take him long to realize that he had chosen the right path. Even before word reached him that Orochimaru had been after his body.

Naruto and Hinata often met up to chat and train. Hinata never looked my way twice again. Whatever respect or understanding we had shared, I had lost it. Hinata looked after him, like a mother protecting a weak child – or one with fragile emotions. Tsunade even began to put them on missions together. Years later, Hinata would become his wife.

Naruto often left Konoha for weeks at a time to go to Suna, to see Gaara, who was appointed the Kazekage at age 14. What the two Jinchuriki talked about was a mystery to all, even the Kazekage's older siblings. They shared a special bond, after all. The truth was, when they met up, they talked about nothing. They just sat there in silence, totally understanding each other. Occasionally, they would spar, or Naruto would assist Gaara in the office or on official Kazekage duties. Training, he called it. His goal was still to be the Hokage. Naruto was perhaps the only one who knew the fear and worry Gaara held within him; worried for his village. He was a very private person, but Naruto always insisted on Gaara talking to him when he could sense that the Kazekage was on verge of losing it. When the Shukaku was pulled from Gaara, it was Naruto who finally coaxed him to sleep for the first time in years, and stayed by his side to wake him from his terrifying nightmares that still lingered. With the birth of Naruto and Hinata's first child, Gaara – much to his astonishment and bewilderment, was made the Godfather. Temari and Kankuro were enormously happy for him – they cared for him deeply, and although Gaara would probably always be physically stronger, he looked to them for support. Only Naruto and Gaara's sibblings could see it, but the Kazekage, who still hadn't fully mastered the ability to show his emotions, was deeply touched and honoured by the trust. He had only ever hoped – and dare he hope – to be accepted, tolerated, by the people of his village. This ultimate entrustment of a human life, somebody else's child, to him was overwhelming.

Years later, on the eve of Naruto's 18th Birthday, Tsunade set down yet another file and called Shizune in to her office:

"Go fetch Naruto Uzumaki." She had stated clearly.

"You wanted to see me?"Naruto asked. He had grown into a precocious young man, driven as he was in his quest for acceptance. His mastery of taijuutsu and Ninjuutsu was near unmatched, and he had taken up the art of seal making, studying intensively the seal on his stomach and Gaaras. Before the Shukaku had been removed, Naruto had managed to manipulate the seal so the Shukaku's voice was blocked from Gaara, offering him tremendous release. In the privacy of Gaara's bedroom, tears leaked down the Kazekage's face –for the first time in many, many years - in relief. With this occurance, Tsunade had decided that Naruto was ready for the position the moment, and it was all but made official when he defeated the Frog Sannin Jiriya in a match. He was announced the youngest Hokage ever, as the crowd roared its' approval. Naruto, like Gaara, had found acceptance within his village.

He did his best to avoid me. Only speaking to me on necessity. Where possible – once he was Hokage – he assigned me to squad teams, so that he wouldn't have to confer with me alone.

I can't say I don't deserve it. Looking back, I was selfish, unduly so. I never realized how much the changes in Naruto had affected me, until one day I found myself wandering around the village, at a time when I would have usually been following Sasuke. He ended up marrying Ino, anyway, who figured out a long time before I did that a boy – especially Sasuke – didn't want an adoring fangirl for a girlfriend. He wanted someone real.

Although he achieved his ultimate dream, and lived his life surrounded by friends – and later – family, it was a bittersweet triumph. It appeared that the longing for my acceptance was all that kept him going, kept him together. When I knocked him back for the last time, it was if that boy just died. Oh, sure, he smiled and laughed and joked, with friends and his eldest daughter and younger son, but even many years later, I could see the unnerved expressions on the faces of those he conversed with, holding a perfectly 'normal' conversation with them without uttering the words 'believe it!' or else getting hot headed over the smallest thing.

He was never that bright, happy, bouncy, loud, obnoxious, loveable boy from that day on. His sunny disposition was gone.

. The sun wanted the acceptance of the flower blossom, wished only for them to dance in his presence, under his glorious ways. But the blossom was too proud to absorbed in her own little self, not seeing how she was a flower in many, and that the attention of the bright life-giver was something to be humbled by. The flower blossom turned her back on the bright, gentle sun, and the sun became dark in shame.

And it was all thanks to me, Sakura Haruno.

It was I who stole the Sun.

**AN AN AN AN**

**Hope you like it. I don't like Sakura, because of how useless she is and how she can't see how caring Naruto is. I always admire Naruto for keeping up a happy disposition even in the face of her rejection, but I thought I should give Naruto a fanfiction chance to close up like he so rightly should have. That's what Sakura needed, a good hard smack of reality.**


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